


Drinking With Ghosts

by FuchsiaMae



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:03:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuchsiaMae/pseuds/FuchsiaMae
Summary: Cave Johnson is dead. Someone has to clean out his liquor cabinet.





	Drinking With Ghosts

“ _At Aperture, we bring the future to you!_ ”

Her bones felt heavy. She groaned as she lifted her head.

“ _And if you want the future today, for just $60…_ ”

_What did you talk me into this time?_ Her tongue tasted stale, felt thick in her mouth. She was no lightweight anymore. She must’ve had most of a bottle by herself.

“ _I’m Cave Johnson, and your future is now_ ,” said the tape player on the desk.

Because he was dead.  _Right_.

Her chest clenched as if warning tears, but none came.  _Dehydrated_ , she thought, oddly detached from her throbbing head. That would explain the worsened hangover. She must’ve cried herself dry.

Her eyes felt salty and swollen. Hauling herself out of the desk chair, she squinted her way to the office’s private bathroom, gulped some aspirin, and chased it with handfuls of water until she could see. She knew without looking that she must be a tearstained mess — but when she glanced up to the mirror, the face she found didn’t look much worse than the night before. Haggard and pale, but that was normal these days. Bloodshot eyes, of course, but no one had looked her in the eye in weeks. A little rouge, a touchup to her lips, and she’d be ready for another workday.

The thought made her feel… nothing. Hollow. Which was a relief.

She turned and ventured back into the office. No mirrors hanging here, thank God. They sat by the door with their faces to the wall, leaning on boxes of his old things. Photos, trophies, framed press clippings. Desk toys, documents, souvenir mugs, notes scrawled on napkins and empty envelopes, long-lost pens. Some boxes said “Storage.” Some said “Burn.”

He’d pitch a fit if he knew she was doing this. But he was dead, so he didn’t get a say.

The broad, polished surface of the desk looked alien without his clutter — unnaturally clean, like no one had ever lived there. The last thing on it was the tape player, which whirred softly as it rewound the tape inside. She couldn’t remember what compelled her to go through the cassettes in his desk drawer last night. The box she’d moved them to had said “Storage,” for posterity’s sake, but she’d scratched the label out and written “Burn” instead.

The player clicked as it reached the beginning. “ _Welcome, gentlemen, to_ —”

“Shut up.” She jabbed the eject button. It spat the tape at her, and she tossed it into the box with the rest. The hollow plastic clattered. She hoped it broke.

A pang of guilt rose up at the thought, but she refused it. Dead men don’t take offense. She would not be ruled by ghosts.

_Or spirits_ , she thought, without smiling. Who had she spent the night with? Jack Daniels, Jim Beam? She never bothered to check the label. The offending bottle sat on the floor beside the cassette box, where she must’ve dropped it — the last open bottle in his liquor cabinet, almost full last night, now almost empty. He hadn’t planned for her to finish it alone.

Then she understood her drunk, lonely logic, and she hated herself for it.

The intercom buzzed on the wall behind her.  _Already?_  She pressed the button and responded, “Go.”

“ _Custodian, ma’am,_ ” said the voice on the other end. “ _If you’re all set, I’ll come move that stuff for you_.”

She looked at the blank walls, the bare furniture, the pile of junk by the door. She meant to say yes, but what came out was, “Maybe later.”

A single finger of amber liquid lingered at the bottom of the bottle. She took it by the neck and drained it. He’d hate for it to go to waste. Then she picked up the box of tapes, tucked it under her arm, and got up to leave, turning off the light before closing the door behind her.


End file.
